Long periods of peace and quiet favor certain optical illusions. Among them is the assumption that the invulnerability of the home is founded upon the Constitution and safe-guarded by it. In reality, it rests upon the father of the family who, accompanied by his sons, appears with an ax on the threshold of his dwelling. -- Ernst Junger

Is anyone truly surprised that North Korea "defied international warnings"? After all, they have made a cottage industry of that for decades, primarily because no one calls them on their bad behavior. I have no doubt that his has historically been because they didn't want to antagonize their "Big Bro China" and perhaps restart the Korean "Conflict", but is now complicated by the US's position of reliance on Chinese money and the North Korean's possession of (at least semi-functional) nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

(Parenthetically, is anyone surprised that Mr. Obama apparently doesn't understand the definition of "illicit"? For crying out loud, the story referenced above has a picture of a South Korean soldier watching video of the launch. How is this test illicit, O Enlightened O-Being?)

We can also wonder if we should even be so publicly worried about the North Koreans at all. By doing so, we grant them influence that is completely out of proportion with their actual capabilities. We also ignore the fact that their use of these capabilities against one of their "enemies" would be a perfectly legitimate excuse to wipe their bitty country off the planet once and for all. They know this, and I don't think that their leadership is suicidal. They're more into playing us like a violin.

We should all be increasing wary of the demonization of anyone, any country, any system or any thing at all by our governments at this point. With the current global slide still in progress (don't allow the markets to fool you; Google the phrase "bear market rally" for further information), the Powers That Be are desperate to channel our attention into other areas. While the War on Terrorism had (at least) some grounding in reality, the new War on Capitalism has the distinct smell of "opiate of the masses" to me. It's an old, old strategy, used by tyrants and would-be tyrants since time immemorial. A War on Illicit Missile Tests or a War on Countries That We Don't Approve Of With The Bomb is an even more obvious ploy.